Many traditional AM and FM stations configured for real-time broadcasts are suffering from reduced listenership due to an array of competitive audio entertainment sources available to listeners. A relatively new competitor to AM and FM is Satellite Radio, which offers over 150 real-time broadcast channels of talk and commercial free music. Satellite Radio is luring away terrestrial radio listeners and is approaching 20 million subscribers with an average of 2 listeners per subscription. According to a 2007 Arbitron Satellite Radio Report, the primary attraction of satellite radio is commercial-free music, with 80% of the listener Average Quarter Hours (AQH) associated with the commercial-free music channels on the XM system, where AQH averages all day parts to determine the number of persons listening to a particular radio station for at least five minutes during a 15-minute period. To an extent countering the growing threat from satellite radio, broadcast radio has begun a transition to in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital audio broadcasts (DAB), with hybrid mode transmissions which enable broadcasters to continue to transmit analog AM and FM broadcasts while offering one or more new supplemental digital audio channels utilizing the data bandwidth in the IBOC hybrid waveform. As more AM and FM broadcasters transition to the hybrid waveform, and more IBOC capable receivers are accessible to listeners, it is possible that with availability of additional content, more listeners will feel less compelled to leave terrestrial radio for Satellite Radio. However, IBOC's new functionality, including digital audio and supplementary channels, has not generated a rapid consumer transition to new radios, which is limiting the technology's impact on the erosion of AM and FM listenership.
Access to content provided by portable media players and personalized radio services such as Pandora is also continuing to draw listeners away from AM and FM. Personal media players such as iPods have already exceeded 200 million in total sales while drawing younger listeners away from broadcast radio. Pandora's personalized radio service continues to grow rapidly with more than 46 million listeners and caters to a core listener group between 18 and 34 years old. By contrast, Sirius XM's core group is 35 to 44. This data implies that the respective radio services are catering to the listening habits of different demographics. One hypothetical reason for this is the older generation, raised with exposure to vinyl records, cassette tapes and AM/FM radio, may be more content waiting out an undesirable audio segment in the broadcast stream than the younger generation, raised with CD players, MP3 players and internet music sites which enable the instant navigation of content on command. Presently, listeners looking to escape undesired segments in a broadcast radio stream must change the channel, more often than not settling on a new channel in the middle of an audio segment. This generally results in an undesired outcome for both the listener and station broadcaster, as the listener has missed the beginning of the new audio segment and the broadcaster loses a listener to a competitive station.
The personalized listening experience that Pandora provides is based on the Music Genome Project's ability to generate a channel playlist matching a subscriber's preference using an input as simple as a favorite song. The Music Genome Project works by rating songs based on almost 400 attributes or genes with each assigned to a specific characteristic of the music. Based on these ratings, algorithms are used to determine which songs in the database best match a subscriber's preferences. However, the resultant personalized channel inevitably will play some content which veers away from the subscriber's taste. Pandora's popularity may lie more in the interactivity enabled in listening to its personalized content stream than in the individual personalized stream itself. This interactivity allows Pandora listeners to skip unappealing audio segments and immediately continue to the next song on the playlist. The appeal of this function is so great that the music rights holders limit the number of skips per hour available in Pandora's free service, and a paid subscription is required to upgrade to unlimited skips. While Pandora's internet based service has limited penetration in the mobile radio market today, advances in mobile wireless internet networks may dramatically increase the availability of Pandora and other internet-based radio services, further impacting AM and FM listenership.
In general, the goal of AM and FM broadcasters is to increase listenership by increasing the time-spent-listening (TSL) or the number of listeners. As the listenership increases, so can the benefit to the broadcaster. For example, a broadcaster with a higher level of listenership for a certain time period can generally charge more to broadcast advertiser's commercials during that time period than can a broadcaster with a lower level of listenership. Accordingly, broadcasters actively pursue various ways to develop listenership. Multiple U.S. Patent Applications have been published which describe opportunities to improve the functionality of digital broadcast receivers in order to attract more listeners. In U.S. Patent Application 2009/0070597 (PA597) entitled “Method and Apparatus for Store and Replay Functions in a Digital Radio Broadcasting Receiver”, incorporated herein by reference, a method is described for user controlled storage and replay of broadcast content from an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital audio broadcast (DAB). IBOC DAB technology enables the simultaneous transmission of multiple audio channels along with data within the spectral mask of existing AM or FM channel allocations. Compliant receivers may be configured to efficiently receive the multiple audio channels contained within a single AM or FM IBOC broadcast channel with one narrowband tuner. The National Radio Systems Committee has adopted an IBOC DAB standard designated NRSC-5A, incorporated herein by reference, which sets forth the requirements for the IBOC Hybrid and all digital broadcasts. HD Radio™ technology, developed by Ibiquity Digital Corporation, is an implementation of the NRSC-5A IBOC standard. Further information regarding HD Radio™ technology can be found at www.hdradio.com and www.ibiquity.com.
Similar to IBOC DAB receivers, satellite radio receivers may be configured to receive multiple audio channels within the satellite radio broadcast with a single tuner. In U.S. Patent Application 2009/0320075 (PA075) entitled “Method and Apparatus for Multiplexing Audio Program Channels from one or more Received Broadcast Streams to Provide a Playlist Style Listening Experience to Users”, incorporated herein by reference, a method is described to generate a playlist from multiple radio channels to enable users to preview or navigate through buffered broadcast channel content. While recording multiple channels is well known in the art, a new approach is needed to enable AM and FM broadcasters to leverage the technology to increase listenership, while maintaining the integrity of revenue producing commercial intervals and keeping user costs low with a simplified receiver implementation.